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I assure this committee that, if I am confirmed, I will be strictly independent of all political influences... essential to that institution's ability to function effectively and achieve its mandated objectives.

Ben Bernanke

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More quotes by Ben Bernanke

Economics is a highly sophisticated field of thought that is superb at explaining to policymakers precisely why the choices they made in the past were wrong. About the future, not so much.

Speaking as somebody who has been happily married for 35 years, I can't imagine any choice more consequential for a lifelong journey than the choice of a traveling companion.

The more important reason is that the research itself provides an important long-run perspective on the issues that we face on a day-to-day basis.

The American people are among the most productive in the world. We have the best technologies. We have - great universities. We have entrepreneurs.

I don't see much evidence of an equity bubble.

Nobody really understands gold prices and I don't pretend to understand them either.

The risk exists that, with aggregate demand exhibiting considerable momentum, output could overshoot its sustainable path, leading ultimately in the absence of countervailing monetary policy action to further upward pressure on inflation.

With respect to their safety, derivatives, for the most part, are traded among very sophisticated financial institutions and individuals who have considerable incentive to understand them and to use them properly.

To avoid large and unsustainable budget deficits, the nation will ultimately have to choose among higher taxes, modifications to entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare, less spending on everything else from education to defense, or some combination of the above.

It's the price of success: people start to think you're omnipotent.

Indeed, in general, healthy investment returns cannot be sustained in a weak economy, and of course it is difficult to save for retirement or other goals without the income from a job.

One might as well try to perform brain surgery with a sledgehammer.

I don't think that Chinese ownership of U.S. assets is so large as to put our country at risk economically.

If you are not happy with yourself, even the loftiest achievements won't bring you much satisfaction.

The financial crisis appears to be mostly behind us, and the economy seems to have stabilized and is expanding again.